Tools / Everyday
Rent or buy?
The question every resident asks after five years. Type the rent you pay and the price of a similar home, and how many years you plan to stay, and see what each path costs over the years — with real fees: the 4% Land Department fee, trustee and mortgage registration, annual service charges, interest, the RERA cap on rent increases, and the home's value if you sold at the end.
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Total renting
Net cost of buying
Fees from the Dubai Land Department (4% + trustee + 0.25% mortgage registration) and Ejari AED 177.75. «Estimate/customary»: valuation 3,000, arrangement 1%, agent 2% buying and 5% renting. Abu Dhabi: 2% registration and 0.1% mortgage from secondary sources. Maintenance and home insurance are not counted.
How to use it
- Type your current annual rent and its expected increase, and the price and size of a similar home.
- Type the down payment, rate and tenure, the service charge per square foot, and the price change you expect.
- Compare the total paid on each path year by year, and see the break-even year after which buying is cheaper.
Questions
Which fees count on the buying side?
Dubai: transfer 4% + AED 520, trustee 4,000 (or 2,000 under 500k) + VAT, mortgage registration 0.25% + 270, valuation (estimate), bank arrangement (estimate ~1%), agent commission (customary 2%), then annual service charges (rate per sq ft × area from RERA's index per project), and interest on the loan.
And on the renting side?
Annual rent and its expected increase (Decree 43/2013 caps the increase at renewal by how far your rent sits below the index average: 0, 5, 10, 15 or 20%), the Ejari fee of AED 177.75 a year, agent commission (customary 5% at signing); the refundable deposit is not counted.
Why count the home's value at the end?
Because the buyer owns an asset to sell: net cost of buying = everything paid − (expected sale price − remaining loan). You choose the yearly price change: 0% is conservative, and it can be negative.
Is the result a final answer?
No, it is a comparison under your assumptions. Items marked «estimate» or «customary» are not official text. Use it to see which assumptions flip the result: years staying, interest and price change.
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